Chapter 30

Jessica stood there for a moment, the same sweet smile on her face as she looked at the last man. She wasn't even breathing hard. The man looked at her, shock on his face. He hadn't moved yet.

She glided up to him and stuck her gun under his chin.

"Shall we dance?" she asked as she smiled sweetly and kissed him softly on the forehead.

He recovered from his shock and smiled at the teenager standing in front of him.

"You have a big problem, little girl," he said.

"Oh? And what's that, tough guy?" Jessica smiled back.

"I know guns. It's what I do. I also count shots fired. That's what I do too. You're out of bullets, pretty girl," he said, not unkindly. He smiled at her sympathetically. It would be a shame that such a show was for nothing.

"Really? Are you sure?" Jessica asked, doubt in her voice. Only her twinkling eyes gave away that she was playing with him.

"I'm sure."

"Would you bet your life on it?"

"Absolutely."

"What if you're wrong?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"I'm not." The man reached up, slipped his finger through the trigger guard and pulled the trigger.

Jessica yanked the gun out from under his chin just as it went off.

"Now I'm out of bullets!" she said with a laugh. "And you think I can't take you out without my gun? I only shot three of you. I took out the other six without a gun." She lifted one eyebrow inquiringly.

"Yeah, but I'm a lot better than they are. I can take you, little girl," he said confidently.

"Really? I guess maybe I better do something about this empty gun then, huh?"

She tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Loaded gun, now," she whispered quietly, almost to herself. She dropped the empty gun and slipped her hand around the gun that appeared in midair, bringing it up under his chin in one fluid movement.

"There. All better now?" she asked.

The man stared at her in shock.

"You! But ... but ... you're dead!" he exclaimed.

Jessica slowly took his hand and slowly rubbed it against her cheek, then kissed his fingers before dropping it again.

"Do I feel like I'm dead?"

"But ... I saw you die. No one comes back from that," he sputtered.

"Apparently, someone does," she pointed out reasonably.

"Why did you pull the gun away? Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Nope. I have a job for you," she said, smiling cheerfully at him.

"Patrick, I'm sorry for interrupting, but we have an emergency!" Melinda announced as I was sitting on the couch, relaxing. I sat up as girls raced into the room from everywhere, serious looks on their faces.

"What is it, Melinda?"

"Jessica and Sarah have been stopped by ten Qerda on the way to the mall."

Damn! Sarah, Jessica, Kim, and Heather were the girls least trained to deal with this. I instantly regretted letting them go by themselves, then shoved the guilt away. I had more important things to do.

"Where are they? Do we have time to get there before they're taken?"

"Uh ... I think you're in for quite a surprise when you get there concerning Jessica," Melinda giggled nervously. "Nine of the ten men are down and the tenth has a gun under his chin. She took them out in 7.3 seconds."

"You're kidding! Jessica?" I asked.

"Jessica," Melinda affirmed.

"If she has the situation well in hand, why are you declaring an emergency?" I asked.

"There are five shuttles heading for them. She doesn't know about them yet. They just passed the orbit of the moon and will be there in about five minutes. They are of a type unknown to me." There was a slight pause. "I got them now. They're a new design, the Qarta class. Very nasty."

Lori handed Kara off to Cindi.

"I've never destroyed that class of shuttle before. I'm looking forward to it," she said with an evil smile. Loi-llia the Qerda Killer was present and accounted for.

"Sheeee's baaaack!" Amy said softly.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this, Lori, but you can't take these shuttles out; not five of them in the time remaining," Melinda said.

"I can take anything out," Lori snapped petulantly.

"Not these, Lori. As I said, they're very nasty. They have a shielding technology that I'm barely able to understand, and multi-phased armor that deflects almost anything. You can take one of them out, but the other four will have Jessica and Sarah back on the Khora before you're done with the first one."

Lori looked peeved.

"You're telling me I can take out their flagship in seconds but I can't take out 5 little shuttles?" she asked in disbelief.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. The technology on these shuttles can't be adapted to something as big as the flagship. Besides, how do you know you can take out their flagship?" I could almost hear the twinkle in Melinda's 'eye'.

"Never mind," Lori muttered.

"Na-na!" Kara and Jenna gurgled together. Lori's face softened as she smiled at them.

"We need to get there quickly. Damn, Sarah and Jessica are our best teleporters. I guess I better brush up on my skills," I said nervously. I hadn't done it much, and I didn't have a picture of the location. "Can you give me a picture of where they're at?"

"I can do better than that, sir. I can teleport all of you right next to them," Melinda revealed.

"You can teleport us?'

"Yes, sir. You won't exactly like it, but I can get you there quickly and safely."

"How do you do that?"

"Ever watched ST-TNG? It's similar to that. It's a little disconcerting to be disassembled and then put back together again, but it happens quickly and is only a little uncomfortable."

I grinned as all the girls turned a little green.

The girls had showed up in the room with the weapons they needed. I grabbed mine and seconds later we were ready to go.

"Any of you have big breakfasts?" Melinda giggled, then laughed as the girls turned green again. "Ready when you are, sir."

"Go!"

"What kind of job?" the man asked.

"I want you to take a message back to your employer," said Jessica, suddenly very serious.

"Ok, I can do that."

"Tell the Empress..."

"Wait! What makes you think I'm working for the Empress?"

Jessica rolled her eyes.

"Oh, puhleese! Do you take me for an idiot? Who else would want us and where else would you get a shuttle like the one you fancy you've hidden in the bushes over there? Don't insult me. You can fly it by yourself, can't you? What are you doing working for her, anyway?"

"A man needs a job, and yes, I can fly it alone," he said with a shrug.

"Find a new job. I will not grant you mercy a second time. She sends you after us again, refuse the assignment; you come after us again, I will kill you."

"You remind me of a girl I once knew, long ago. I miss her," the man said nostalgically.

"Whatever.

"Tell the Empress this: 'I know the conflict between the Qerda and the Cornazans must play out without interference. Know this — as of this moment, my sister, the one you know as Sarah, is off limits. She has been hurt by your people enough. It stops now. If you come against her again, I will kill those you send, then I will personally hunt you down. When I am done with you, Empress, you will beg me to kill you. Mark my words well, I will not tell you again! It ends now.'"

Fire blazed in Jessica's eyes as she finished speaking. The man shivered.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Fourteen," she answered curtly.

"My employer is going to be very displeased that we failed. When I repeat your threat and tell her it comes from a fourteen-year-old girl who defeated her troops singlehandedly, she will laugh and kill me for lying. I need a name to make this work." The sick look in his eyes said he already suspected what name he was going to hear.

"It's not a threat, it's a promise, but we wouldn't want you to die, would we?" She turned deadly serious again. Gone was the sweet smile.

"Tell the Empress it is I, Ja'a-llia, that says these things. It has been a long time, but she will remember my name. Tell her if she crosses me on this, I will make Loi-llia look like a sweet, innocent Catholic school girl." She smiled again. "Well, maybe not sweet, but she will get my meaning. Tell her to remember the Battle of Sacara. That was me that went against her there, and I wasn't even trying hard."

The man looked shocked, then sad.

"But ... you died!" he insisted. Jessica stared at him, not answering.

"Ja'a! I thought I recognized your work, and that smile. I've missed you!" he whispered sadly.

"Whatever," she said curtly, then softened her tone. "There's no going back. We were friends once, but that has been gone for a long time. It's over."

"How are you alive? You died, Ja'a!"

"You will die also if you say that one more time!" Jessica flared.

"But how?" he asked again.

"I don't know. I remember a bright flash of light and I was alive."

Melinda was right; her style of teleportation was pretty obnoxious. I thought Amy and Cindi were going to lose it and puke when we arrived. I thought I was going to puke too, but for a completely different reason.

Sarah and Jessica were nowhere to be seen. We were in the right spot, but they weren't there.

"Melinda, they're not here! I don't see the bodies either. What happened?"

"They're still there. They should be right in front of you," Melinda insisted.

"They're not, Mel," I repeated.

"Processing ... processing ... oh, crap! I see what the problem is. They're in the interdimensional space!" Her voice was close to panic. "I can't get you there!"

Well, I guess that answered the question of whether the Qerda knew how to use the IDS or not.

"Cindi, see if you can contact your Mom through the necklace. Becky, get a hold of my Dad. They both have crystals ... maybe they can get us there. I'm not leaving those girls in there alone!"

"Patrick, there is no need to do that..."

" ... we can get us in."

Everyone turned to look at Valerie and Christina.

"How?"

They both bowed formally to me.

"You know us as Valerie and Christina, or as the First Twins. We have another name. We are the First Ones, the Keepers and Guardians of the Interdimensional Space."

"Oh my God! You're the First Ones? Holy crap! That is so cool!" Melinda gushed.

"Later, Mel. Girls, get us there as soon as possible. We'll gush over you another time, I promise," I said. The twins blushed furiously at the attention.

"Patrick, do you love us?" Valerie and Christina asked solemnly. For some reason, they blushed when they asked that.

"I do love you," I answered seriously.

"Do you trust us?" they asked.

"I do trust you. Find my girls."

There was a flash of silver and gold light. I was never so relieved in my life when we were standing next to Sarah and Jessica.

"Took you long enough!" Jessica giggled. "I think I've got it in hand. This guy is tough, but I think I can handle him." She was holding her gun loosely on the survivor. He looked like he was more interested in kissing her than fighting her.

Cindi was standing next to Sarah. Sarah buried her face in Cindi's chest and cried. She was shaking like a leaf.

"Jessica, I think you are going to need their help more than you think. There are five shuttles heading this way. They just broke atmosphere and will be here in minutes," Melinda broke the bad news.

"What kind?" Jessica asked.

"Qarta class."

Jessica glared at her 'admirer.' "I warned you..."

"Hey, I haven't done anything wrong. Those were launched before I even saw you!" He looked scared.

"Really..."

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it!' he said with a sickly grin.

Jessica smiled at him. It was not her normal, sweet smile. I don't know if he took any comfort from it, but I wouldn't have if it were directed at me.

"I still think I can take them out," Lori muttered.

"Leap, froggy, leap," Melinda said in her best 'I'm gonna say I told you so!' voice.

Lori concentrated for a second, and a pink flash brighter than any we had ever seen flashed out of her and was gone.

"Shields are down 2%," Melinda reported.

"Shit!" Lori raged impotently.

"So that's it? We just wait till they land and they take us without a fight?" Cindi asked in disbelief.

No one had a good answer for her.

"Not hardly," Jessica said quietly. "Melinda, I need your help."

"Have they captured them yet?" the Empress asked her advisor. She couldn't wait to finally get her hands on a set of Cornazan twins. She'd been waiting for this for a very long time.

"There is no word yet, Your Majesty. The first shuttle has landed. The other five are approaching the planet now. We should hear something soon."

"What can I do?" Melinda asked.

"I have something that can take out those shuttles, but I need someone to provide me aiming coordinates. Usually Sarah does that for me, but she's a little preoccupied right now. Can you lock in the aiming coordinates for me?"

"I can. Tell me what you need and what type of weapon you are using and I can provide you with everything you need ... Hold on, we have another problem."

"Commander, I have five unidentified objects entering the atmosphere over the Midwest," the radar technician reported.

"What exactly do you have?"

"I don't know, sir. They don't match any profile we have in our computers. We are computing their entry trajectory and source location now."

"And... ?" the commander asked after a moment of silence.

"Sir, I am running level four diagnostics on the radar and the computer. These results can't be right."

"Just tell me what you have, Corporal," the Commander snapped.

"Sir, the trajectory is from well beyond the moon. I isolated their path before they came to our attention. Their speed ... well, sir, the computer has it well beyond the speed of light before they slowed to enter the atmosphere. They are currently flying at Mach one. It appears like they are looking for something."

"Scramble the alert fighters and vector the CAP to intersect them. Where are they headed?"

"Current trajectory would put them somewhere in southern Missouri, south of St. Louis," the Corporal answered. "They will be there in ... well, minutes."

"Who do we have intercepting them?"

"Eagle One squadron on CAP will be there first, with Raptor One shortly after. Current course has them intercepting before they land."

'Good, ' the Commander thought. Eagle One and Raptor One were his best men and his best planes.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"NORAD has detected the shuttles and the Air Force has vectored six fighters to intercept," Melinda reported.

"Oh, poopies!" Jessica swore. We all looked at her in shock. Did sweet little Jessica just say 'poopies?' This could be the end of the world as we knew it! The mouth on that girl.

"Jessica! Watch your language!" I quipped. Jessica blushed and apologized. Only Jessica would have taken me seriously.

"What kind of fighters?" Katie asked.

"F-15 Eagles in the closest group, F-22 Raptors in the second squadron."

"Damn! Eagle Drivers and Raptors. Why does it have to be this hard?" Katie complained.

"Katie, can you do something to get them out of there?" Jessica asked.

"Working on it, but it might not happen before the first shuttle lands," she responded.

"Do what you can; the first shuttle will not land. Patrick, I'm really sorry for this. I hope you will forgive me," Jessica whispered. Before my mind registered what she had said, there was a flash of gold and silver light and we were back at home on earth.

"Corporal, patch me into Eagle One," the Commander ordered.

"Go, sir."

"Eagle One, this is Papa Bear. What have you got?"

"Papa Bear, this is Eagle One. I have nothing yet, sir. I should have visual in seconds. I have them on my radar, but the signal is weak and fluctuating."

"Do we have an AWAC in the area?" the Commander asked the radar tech.

"I've already alerted them, sir. Data is coming in on your screen now."

"Good man. Thank you, Corporal." There was a moment of silence. "Corporal, what do you make of this image? Is this a ghost image?"

"No, sir. It's sharp enough to see clearly with the AWAC power. It's nothing I've ever seen before, sir. It's..." the corporal fell silent.

"Yes?" the Commander asked impatiently.

"Sir, that is nothing from this world," the corporal said softly.

"God damn it! Did Jessica just teleport us back here?" I asked angrily.

"Yes sir, I think she did," Valerie said.

"Valerie, Christina, get us back there right now!"

"No sir..."

" ... sorry, sir."

"What?"

"No, sir..."

" ... sorry, sir," they repeated.

"What the hell do you mean?' I thundered.

"Which part of 'no, sir' did you not understand ... Sir?" Christina asked respectfully.

If I wasn't so worried about Sarah, Jessica, and Katie I would have taken the time to spank the Presidential Twins. I noticed that Christopher was also missing. I took a deep breath.

"Explain to me why you won't send us back. Then, explain to me why I shouldn't spank your little asses to within an inch of your lives."

"Sir, we were teleported out by Jessica and Sarah, with the full approval and help of Christopher. Those three are some of the smartest in our family. If they feel we shouldn't be there, sir, we're not going to question their wisdom. They have a good reason for doing what they did ... sir," Valerie responded. She grinned. "And you shouldn't spank us because we might enjoy it too much!"

"Girls..." I started. Christina interrupted me.

"Patrick, your safety and well-being is our number one priority. That's why we're here on Earth. Please understand that it pains us deeply to say this, but the others are expendable compared to your safety. We will not send you back until the situation is resolved or it has deteriorated to where it's necessary to save the rest of the family. Jessica obviously has a plan to deal with this or she wouldn't have stayed."

I sighed. There was nothing I could do. I didn't think my teleporting skills extended to the inter-dimensional space.

"Girls, if anything happens to even one of those left behind, I swear..."

"Don't make me laugh, sir. If anything happens to even one of those left behind, there is nothing you can do that could possibly make us feel worse," Valerie said with tears in her eyes.

"Eagle One to Papa Bear. I have one of the craft in sight. Sir ... this is not anything I've ever seen before. This isn't even an experimental craft. It seems to be ignoring us, as if it doesn't even know we're here ... or couldn't care less. Permission to arm missiles, sir."

"Eagle One, you are cleared to arm missiles, but you are not to fire unless fired upon. I repeat, you are not to fire unless fired upon."

"Copy, Papa Bear. We are cleared to arm missiles but are not to fire unless fired upon. Eagle One out."

"Good. I have the impression if we fire, these things will eat us alive," the pilot said to his wingman.

"Melinda, target the five shuttles. I am powering up now," Jessica said.

"Targeting ... now. Weapon data received and entered into ... Jessica, what the HELL are you doing?"

"I'm taking out five Qarta class shuttles," Jessica answered, 'duh!' resounding clearly in her voice.

"You are going to kill us all!" Melinda practically screamed.

"No I'm not. I've done this before. There is a small chance it could go wrong, which is why I had you teleport everyone else out. Just make sure you have the targeting data exact."

"Jessica, this weapon was abandoned because it kills everyone within 500 feet of the firing point. Don't do this," Melinda whispered.

"It did in the past. It doesn't anymore. Shut up and do your job or I'll have Sarah do the targeting. The shape she's in, we probably would kill everyone within several miles," Jessica snapped. "What do you want me to do, just give up without a fight?"

"Targets acquired," Melinda whispered, her voice breaking.

"Christopher, I'm sending one bolt of the energy I'm going to use to you. Use it to put a shield around those airplanes. I have no intentions of letting pilots just doing their jobs die for it," Jessica said.

"Why didn't we just use the girls' shields to do that?" Christopher asked.

Jessica told him why.

Jessica smiled as she heard Katie start speaking in a male voice.

The Commander snapped his head around as he heard his voice coming out of the speakers.

"Eagle One, Raptor One, this is Papa Bear. Your mission is buster, I repeat, your mission is buster. Break off pursuit and return to base immediately. Authorization code is Tango Zulu Alpha three niner. Acknowledge."

"Who the hell is that?" the Commander demanded.

"It's you ... sir," the Corporal replied.

"The hell it is!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but the authorization code and voice print analysis verifies it is you," the Corporal answered nervously.

"Get that joker on the horn, now! I want to talk to him."

"Eagle One, Raptor One, this is Papa Bear. Your mission is buster, I repeat, your mission is buster. Break off pursuit and return to base immediately. Authorization code is Tango Zulu Alpha three niner. Acknowledge."

Christopher laughed as he heard Katie speaking in a male voice. Katie grinned.

"Papa Bear, Eagle One, please verify. I have the target in sight. Please repeat your orders."

"Eagle One, Raptor One, get your asses turned back to base now or you'll be flying crop dusters in Nebraska by tomorrow!" the Commander barked.

"Yes, sir!" the two leaders answered together.

"Well, at least there's no question who that was. Authorization codes can be faked, but that was the Commander!" Eagle One laughed.

"Melinda, I am going to fire on the nearest shuttle first as a test to calm your fears. Christopher, I am firing at you at the same time. You have 2.7 seconds to absorb the energy and get those shields up around the planes. Firing ... NOW!"

Jessica was surrounded by a whirling wall of silver and gold light. After circling her for a second, two balls of light separated from the wall of light. The balls circled again, then one broke off and entered into Christopher. The other ball circled one more time, then disappeared into the sky at blinding speed.

As soon as the ball entered Christopher, he jerked his head towards Jessica, a surprised look on his face.

"What the hell ... Who..." he gasped. He immediately glowed with a gold and silver light so bright he couldn't be seen. Katie turned her eyes away, wincing in pain. They could see the shuttle high in the sky, no bigger than a little dot. The plane shadowing it was surrounded in a rainbow shield, brighter than any they had ever seen before. Then the shuttle flashed into a brilliant ball of silver and gold fire.

"Captain, our shields are failing!" the weapons officer aboard Shuttle One shouted.

"Nonsense! These shields can't fail," the Captain responded.

"Shields are down!"

"What? Get them back up!"

The lights went out.

"I can't, sir. Everything including the snack refrigerator just shorted out. We're dead stick, sir."

"Captain, the armor cladding is melting. Estimate ten seconds before terminal explosion!"

"All hands eject ... now, now, now!" the captain ordered.

They were just beyond the fatal blast range when the shuttle exploded in a brilliant ball of fire.

"Papa Bear, this is Eagle One. Something just fired on that craft. It looks like it has a shield of some kind ... the shield is down. The outer skin is melting. It looks like the occupants have ejected."

"Eagle One, get out of there now!" 'the commander' ordered.

"That craft just exploded, sir! I'm going to fly directly through the debris field. Mayday, Mayday! This is Eagle One declaring an emergency! I am..."

There was a pause.

"This is Eagle One, cancelling Mayday. I ... Sir, I'm surrounded by a rainbow of colors that appears to be some kind of shield. The debris is bouncing off of it," the pilot said in amazement.

"Eagle One, Raptor One, get back to base now! If I have to get in a plane and bring you back, I will shoot you down myself!" 'the Commander' threatened.

"Eagle One, Raptor One, returning to base, out."

"Corporal, do you have that jackass on the horn yet?" the Commander snapped.

"I'm sorry, sir, but all outgoing communications are down. We can hear them, but they can't hear us ... at least, not the real us. We've lost contact with our planes also, sir."

"Corporal, activate the emergency sideband communications with the planes," the Commander ordered.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Commander Winters," a female voice interrupted. The voice sounded like a teenage girl, and seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere.

"Who the hell are you?" the Commander bellowed.

"You don't have to shout; I can hear you just fine. Who am I? That's a difficult question to answer. We are your friends. The fact that we protected your pilot from harm should verify that. How about you just call me ... Katie," the girl answered with a giggle.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

"Commander, your pilots are caught in the middle of something that doesn't concern them ... or you. I am truly sorry for that. We have ensured that they will not be harmed. Let them return to base. Those craft you are observing would blow your planes out of the air in a millisecond if they wanted to waste their time doing so. We are more than capable of handling this situation. Relax, let your pilots return to base, and stay out of this. It will be over in a few minutes."

One of the officers in the room slipped a note in front of the Commander. It reminded him of a request by a local chief of police, a John Haskin, to be contacted about any strange happenings that involve colors, shields, or other unbelievable events. The Commander wrote a note back, telling him to call Chief Haskin and to get the President on the line.

"Excellent idea, Commander. By all means, contact Chief Haskin and the President," Katie said. The Commander looked shocked.

"I want to talk to my pilots," he demanded.

"Your pilots have your orders to return to base. They need no further communications from you right now."

"Corporal, activate that emergency communications system," he ordered.

"Have it your way," Katie sighed.

The power and communications went out all over the base. The runway lights continued to shine brightly.

"Sir, I have the President on the line," the Corporal shouted.

"Don't bother to try it, Commander. The phone only works to talk to the President and Chief Haskin," Katie assured him.

"Mr. President?"

"Dennis, what's going on there?" the familiar southern drawl asked over the loudspeakers. The Commander motioned the communications officer to kill the speakers. He just shrugged helplessly.

"Sir, I have five unidentified, high speed craft intruding in out airspace. Our tracking data indicates they came from deep space at greater-than-light speed. They are currently cruising at Mach one over Southern Missouri. I scrambled planes to intercept them. One of the craft has been attacked by an unknown weapon, exploded, and some kind of colored shield is surrounding my planes, apparently protecting them. I have a teenage girl imitating my voice so perfectly that even voice analysis is fooled. She's giving my pilots orders using my authorization code, and now all power and communications have been cut on the base."

"Did the girl tell you her name?"

"She said it was Katie, sir."

"Hi Jeff! It's Katie! How's Grace?" Katie interrupted.

"Katie! It's good to hear from you. Grace is fine. How's Patrick, and how are my daughters?"

"Patrick's a little angry right now, mainly at your daughters. I think they're going to get a spanking. I'll tell you about it later."

"Well, I certainly understand that feeling! What's going on, Katie?" Jeff asked.

"Just a little snafu, sir. A certain female ... acquaintance ... of ours made the mistake of picking on Sarah and in the process irritated Jessica. She, and we, are in the process of learning that it is not a good thing to irritate Jessica."

"Sweet little Jessica? Tell her if she needs any help I'll send the entire US military to help. No one picks on my Sarah." Jeff sounded mad.

"Thank you, sir, but as I was trying to explain to Commander Winters, anything you have would just be in the way. Everything will be ok shortly. You might have your people prepared to explain about a lot of UFO sightings, though."